TrackMania² Canyon review – stunt car racing

The PC’s most outrageous racer finally gets a full-bloodied sequel, with some of the most dangerous – and beautiful – race tracks gaming has ever seen.

TrackMania 2 Canyon (PC) â the quick way down

The odd thing about downloadable games like this is that despite their massive success many regular gamers have never even heard of them. And yet the front page of the TrackMania website claims to have 51,000 Facebook friends. That may seem like one for every sequel so far but it’s a very visible sign of support for one of the best (and worst) kept secrets in gaming.

The best way we’ve ever found to describe TrackMania is as a cross between Stunt Car Racer and Roller Coaster Tycoon. As relatively sane, even generic, as the game may look in some screenshots this is the strangest and most versatile racing game the PC has ever seen. (Why it’s always been restricted to Nintendo consoles we can’t imagine.)

This is the first TrackMania² game, but rather than being a monolithic sequel it’s merely one in a series of planned games, all focusing on a different environment. The next one is called Valley while this concentrates on the sort of scenery John Ford would’ve like to race around – had he been into his PC games. Unlike most of the TrackMania titles there seems no sign of a retail release, but that’s hardly likely to put off most PC gamers.

The first obvious change in TrackMania² is the handling of the vehicles, which is purposefully a lot more heavy than usual and has a greater emphasis on powersliding. This may upset some long-time fans but it makes it feel more like a traditional arcade racer, rather than the occasionally skittish cars of before. Why there isn’t a choice of driving model though we don’t know, especially in a series that is usually famed for the generous volume of its content.

We’re not sure that fame is going to last though because Canyon also jettisons the Puzzle (think Pipemania meets Ridge Racer – if you can) and Platform modes, along with the ability air brake. We can well believe Nadeo are planning to bring these features back in subsequent games or updates but Canyon has managed to go from a game stacked to the gills with features and courses to one that suddenly struggles to justify its £20 price tag.

But that’s not to say that what’s left is no fun, far from it – in terms of what it does do it’s the best the game has ever been. You get around 65 official tracks in five categories of difficulty for single-player, although you’re only ever racing against ghost cars. The tracks start innocuously enough, with courses that look like they might have come from any old arcade racer, but very soon they turn into physically impossible roller coaster rides that see cars shooting out across the landscape like bullets from a gun.

The huge drops and massive ramps don’t just require skilled driving they also require a degree of rote learning. It’s not quite Trials HD, but it certainly has something of the same old school trial and error approach.

Playing on your own is good practise and given the large number of courses and constant minor rewards it offers a good sense of progression too. In theory anyway, in practise the game refuses to explain what any of the terms and concepts mean and there’s not even a printable manual. It’s a good job TrackMania has one of the friendliest communities online because even just working out how to post an official time – the single-player game’s key appeal – is left as a complete mystery.

(You have to first get a gold medal on a track, instead of paying for the chance with virtual currency. Which is a controversial, but we think positive, change.)

But more than ever the focus here is on multiplayer action. It may seem odd for a downloadable game to have not always had multiplayer at the forefront of its appeal, but although it has certainly always been a factor the massive online community has always been just as interested in creating and sharing its own levels. Thankfully the level editor hasn’t gone the way of Puzzle and Platform mode and as soon as you head online you’ll find hundreds of excellent fan-made tracks waiting for you.

You’ll probably come last the first dozen goes but that’s fine because the sight of 50-odd other cars all burning round the same bizarrely improbable track is initially entertainment enough (even if they too are just ghost cars). Especially given the superb graphics. There might be only one environment, but it’s a breathtakingly gorgeous one and one of the best natural landscapes we’ve ever seen in a game.

TrackMania is a great series and we usually recommend its games unequivocally, but it’s so very obvious that extra vehicles and game modes are going to be added at a later date – whether into Canyon itself or introduced via Valley and other games – that you almost want to fast forward a couple of years and just play the completed collection.

You could just wait we suppose but then you’d be missing out on one of the most entertaining, if most incomplete, racing games of the year.

In Short: Mice seem to have got at the game modes and vehicle selection but despite the paucity of options this is still one of the most original and fun racers on any format.

Pros: The new driving model is great and the track designs superbly evil. Great online community and multiplayer options, with a very powerful track editor.

Cons: Only one environment and car type, and many of the series’ most famous game modes are missing. No tutorial, manual or any explanation for what’s going on.